Jed Hoyer drawing clear line in the sand with latest Cubs' offseason comments

Prior to this offseason, it was difficult for Chicago Cubs fans to determine where Jed Hoyer's ideologies ended and where Tom Ricketts' preferences as team chairman began.

Faced with the reality of entering the final year of his current contract with the Cubs, Hoyer has acted with a sense of aggressiveness we hadn't seen from him in the years prior. Hoyer took a big swing in trading for Kyle Tucker while also trading for established veteran relief pitchers in Ryan Pressly and Ryan Brasier.

While aggressive, those moves can still be argued as moves Hoyer and Ricketts would've been aligned on. While the Cubs did include top prospect Cam Smith in the deal for Tucker, they still have a farm system universally praised across Major League Baseball. Even the moves for Pressly and Brasier didn't require much financial stretches for the Cubs considering the money included in the respective deals with the Houston Astros and Los Angeles Dodgers.

The failed pursuit of Alex Bregman, however, is becoming the defining moment of the Cubs' offseason. While Bregman wasn't factored into the Cubs' plans at the start of the offseason, it's clear that he became a priority for the front office in the weeks prior to his signing with the Boston Red Sox. Of course, even with Bregman as a priority, Hoyer was still handcuffed by the type of offer he could extend to the All-Star third baseman.

Whether intentional or not, the Cubs' shortcomings in their efforts to sign Bregman have highlighted the divide between Hoyer and Ricketts. Latest proof of that is the comments Hoyer made on Tuesday when asked about the team's offseason.

"We knew we had certain constraints. How do we work within those constraints and continue to get better at the same time? Only time will tell if we were successful. But I feel good about what we accomplished this offseason, given that we had some constraints," Hoyer told reporters.

Jed Hoyer is distancing himself from Tom Ricketts

Hoyer referred to "constraints" three separate times when talking about the plan the Cubs had this offseason. In other words, Hoyer wants the world to know that he would've done more but had to act within the "breaking even" mindset of Ricketts. That is not to say that Hoyer would've matched the Red Sox's three-year offer worth $120MM to Bregman, but it does suggest the Cubs' current President of Baseball Operation is more aligned with his predecessor than his boss. In an offseason where there was transformational talent available in Juan Soto, Corbin Burnes, and Roki Sasaki, it's fair to wonder had it not been for Ricketts' mandates with the budget, would Hoyer have adhered to Epstein's "if not now, when" mantra.

What does this mean? It's fair to mention that Epstein did depart a year earlier than his planned exit from the Cubs' organization once it became clear that not only were there going to be difficult decisions to be made, but Ricketts wouldn't allow for the spending that would otherwise allow a big-market team to course correct. It's also fair to bring light back to the report from last September of "internal friction" from within the Cubs' front office. Hoyer leaving the Cubs next offseason may be just as much his choice as it would be dictated by a failed postseason berth.